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The 2026 TOUR Championship is officially underway, with East Lake Golf Club producing lower-than-expected scores in soft conditions. Not a single player in this field of 30 (29 after JJ Spaun’s withdrawal) carded a round above par.
Min Woo Lee stands alone atop the leaderboard, jumping out to an opening round of 62, and holding a 2-stroke lead over Collin Morikawa, Chris Gotterup, and Viktor Hovland. With 14 of the 29 competitors still within four strokes of Lee’s lead, it’s still a wide-open tournament as we head into Friday.
Looking ahead, we have new data at our disposal to adjust our approach in DFS formats before Round 2 gets underway on Friday. Conditions were wet from overnight rain on Thursday, but the course will continue to get firmer as the week goes on. Ahead, we’ll look to identify the players who have shown they are most due for a Round 2 breakout.
Take a look at some of the best pillar players for the 2026 TOUR Championship DFS contests and live betting opportunities.
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DraftKings Showdown Golf Strategy
DraftKings Golf Showdown Golf is a one-round Daily Fantasy format in which players aim to construct the best-scoring one-round lineup while staying within the allotted salary cap. To identify value in Golf Showdown, it’s typically best to focus on buy-low opportunities on players who’ve shown uncharacteristically poor putting in the prior round. There is also an opportunity to find leverage by identifying favorable weather splits and players who are more likely to card birdies-or-better.
Round 2 TOUR Championship Showdown Pillar Plays
As expected, ball-striking form and Bermuda putting skill have prevailed thus far at East Lake Golf Club. Much like last week at Bellerive Country Club, it is the longer hitters who are most skilled from long-distance on approach who have risen towards the top of the leaderboard. Looking ahead, it is going to take a combination of driving distance, elite iron play, and a streaky putter to go low at East Lake Golf Club.
Identifying value players who check each of these boxes can provide valuable bonus points in the DraftKings Showdown format. The three players below will be foundational plays in my Round 2 Showdown lineups for these reasons.
Rory McIlroy ($11,100)
It was a dreadful putting display from McIlroy in his opening round at East Lake, as a round of 2-under, 68 seems to be the worst McIlroy was capable of. Ranking bottom-3 in terms of both SG: Putting and SG: ARG, we cannot expect the short game performance to get any worse than what we saw on Thursday. There’s no reason to panic about Rory’s overall form, as he is just one week removed from a runner up performance at the BMW Championship.
Looking ahead, there’s plenty to still feel encouraged about with McIlroy’s game. He ranked 1st in the field in SG: Ball Striking and Driving Distance, and top-3 in SG: OTT and SG: APP. McIlroy is the most experienced player in this field in terms of TOUR Championship reps, and knows how to navigate this course well, winning this event in 2016, 2019, and 2022. Due for a bounce-back on the greens, this shapes up to be a great buy-low second round for one of the pre-tournament favorites.
Ryan Gerard ($7,200)
In my opinion, JJ Spaun’s disappointing summer and withdrawal from this tournament due to injury has opened up a Captain’s Selection spot on the Team USA Presidents Cup team. There is a good chance that spot may be awarded to the highest-finishing American not otherwise qualified in this field, and Gerard looks poised to take advantage of the opportunity. Through his opening round, he finds himself T5 for the tournament at 5-under-par.
Gerard’s strong play continues a very solid second half of his season, as he entered this week with four top-25 finishes over his last five starts, and had gained strokes in terms of both SG: OTT and SG: APP in each of those last five starts. He’s put that form on full display at East Lake so far, ranking above-average in every Strokes Gained category, including 3rd in SG: T2G. If the season ended today, I would choose Gerard over Ben Griffin, JJ Spaun, and Akshay Bhatia; he’ll have a great opportunity to prove his worth to Captain Snedeker over these next three days.
Ryan Fox ($6,000)
There aren’t many longshots in a field of just 30, but it was The Open champion himself who entered amongst those with the longest odds to win in this field. He’s proven oddsmakers wrong thus far, currently T9 on the leaderboard at 4-under-par after his opening round. Fox led the field in SG: APP, gaining 3.25 strokes on approach, more than twice the strokes gained in the category of any other player in the field.
Approach form is vital at East Lake, and it was encouraging to see how well his irons looked, despite playing from out of position so often. Fox hit just 50% of his fairways in regulation, so if he can improve on that mark in round 2, he’ll position himself well to maintain his spot inside the top 10 on this leaderboard.
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Live Bets To Consider Entering Round 2
Round 2 Matchup: Xander Schauffele over Sam Burns
Best Available odds: -128
Xander’s history at East Lake is unmatched in this field, having never finished worse than T8 over eight prior appearances. He may be on his way to yet another top-10 finish here after a solid opening round of 3-under-par.
In Burns’ case, it’s possible we have already seen his peak this season, as he has struggled with his control off the tee since the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. East Lake is a demanding course that requires full control of your tee-to-green game, so I’m siding with Xander as the player in more control of his tee-to-green game in this matchup.
Leader After Round 2: Collin Morikawa
Best Available odds: +690
It has been impressive to watch Collin Morikawa’s form over the last month of the season, and he has not slowed down at all since his T4 finish at the BMW Championship last week. He loves the setup here at East Lake Golf Club, finishing with the net lowest 72-hole score here back in 2024, his third top-6 finish at the TOUR Championship over six career appearances.
He’ll go into Friday just two strokes off of Min Woo Lee’s pace, and in full control of his ball-striking and putting. With room to improve on approach, Collin has a clear path to stay hot on Friday assuming his putter remains hot.
Best of luck with your TOUR Championship DFS lineups and bets!
Photo Credit: REUTERS
